Fast and selective cell isolation from blood sample by microfiber fabric system with vacuum aspiration

Abstract

Since circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are tumor cells which are found in the blood of cancer patients, CTCs are potential tumor markers, so a rapid isolation of CTCs is desirable for clinical applications. In this paper, a three-dimensional polystyrene (PS) microfiber fabric with vacuum aspiration system was developed for capturing CTCs within a short time. Various microfiber fabrics with different diameters were prepared by the electrospinning method and optimized for contact frequency with cells. Vacuum aspiration utilizing these microfiber fabrics could filter all cells within seconds without mechanical damage. The microfiber fabric with immobilized anti-EpCAM antibodies was able to specifically capture MCF-7 cells that express EpCAM on their surfaces. The specificity of the system was confirmed by monitoring the ability to isolate MCF-7 cells from a mixture containing CCRF-CEM cells that do not express EpCAM. Furthermore, the selective capture ability of the microfiber was retained even when the microfiber was exposed to the whole blood of pigs spiked with MCF-7 cells. The specific cell capture ratio of the vacuum aspiration system utilizing microfiber fabric could be improved by increasing the thickness of the microfiber fabric through electrospinning time.

An automatic immuno-microfluidic system integrating electrospun polystyrene microfibrous reactors for rapid detection of salivary cortisol

“…In the available ELISA kits, 96-well polystyrene microplates are usually used to immobilize antibodies. Generally, polystyrene (PS), as the ideal material for ELISA, is commercially used because of its non-toxicity, excellent biocompatibility, 22 verified protein adsorption ability, which provides relatively steady hydrophobic bonds, 23 , 24 low cost, and stable physicochemical properties. 25 Furthermore, PS can be constructed into microfibers by electrospinning, which contributes to the micro-scale structure of the substrate with a high surface area and more binding sites for antibodies instead of the flat-structured well bottom.…”

Advances in isolation and detection of circulating tumor cells based on microfluidics

“…Nanoparticles could be spin-coated on the channel with certain pattern 41 , or the channel could be designed with different structures like herringbone structure 42 to increase the rate of affinity. The other category involves the use of nanoparticle-coated microstructures including electrospun fibers 43 , medical wires 44 , nylon fibers 45 , and surface-modified vein indwelling needles 46 . Furthermore, label-based methods can also be divided into another two categories depending on the type of target cells: negative sorting and positive sorting.…”

Electrospun Polymeric Microfiber Substrates for Rapid Protein and Cell-based Assays

“…In terms of cancer treatment, the treatment must be patient specific with thus the CTCs acting as markers [14]. By successfully capturing CTCs to the fiber mats and further being able to release these cells, they can be thoroughly examined to determine patient specific cancer care [15,16]. highly sensitive immunoassay.…”